To Date or Not To Date Co Workers

It is not always a bad thing when “love is in the air” amongst your circle of friends. You probably saw it coming when you witnessed the couple start giving each other rides or just a bit overly excited about every little thing they share. How about when “love is in the air” in the office? Is this a welcomed situation?

Considering working individuals spend over 1/3 of their work week in the office, it should be no surprise that feelings develop between co workers. Careerbuilder.com recently published an article indicating that 1 out of 5 workers have dated their co worker. Whether you like it or not, you spend a large amount of time within proximity of people you work with. You can only hope that the people you work with are pleasant and easy to work with. Going into a relationship is a very touchy issue and there are several things you may want to consider before crossing that line and asking your co worker out on a date.

First, you may want to check if your company has policies against interoffice romance. No federal or state laws can restrict this but they can’t prohibit companies from having such policies either. Another issue you need to be careful is your relationship in the office. Is your potential mate your superior. Co workers may suspect unfair preference due to the relationship. You may also want to take some time to think how it would impact your job in case it doesn’t work out. You do not want to be in an awkward position and if its worth it.

Once you weighed all the risks and policies, you can move forward if the feeling is mutual. You should plan ahead on how want to strategically handle this relationship. Your boss should be one of the first to be notified. You don’t need permission but its always a good thing to bring this up to your boss and not vice versa. Your boss will likely approve the relationship knowing you thought about letting them in on the news first. Also discuss how you will respond to your other peers when inquired. This isn’t high school, there is no reason to hide anything. You should also agree on boundaries on how you will behave in the office. Lastly, in this age of social media, you would want to decide ahead of time what type of pictures you want to share with your co workers.

As complicated as it may seem, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. With the above advice, hopefully you are that much more able to discern if you want to pursue an interoffice romance! Good luck!